Beverage preparation machines are well known in the food science and consumer goods area. Such machines allow a consumer to prepare at home a given type of beverage, for instance a coffee-based beverage, such as espresso or filter coffee.
Today, many beverage preparation machines for in-home use comprise a system which can accommodate portioned beverage ingredients. Such portions may be contained typically in pods, sachets or capsules.
The machine comprises a receptacle or cavity for accommodating said portioned beverage ingredients and a fluid injection system for injecting a fluid, such as water, under pressure into the pod or capsule. Thus the fluid, for example hot or cold water, passes through the capsule or pod and delivers a liquid food or beverage.
Some machines comprise a selection system, allowing a user of the machine to select a value for at least one parameter from among a set of predetermined values when preparing a beverage. For example, a parameter may be a fluid volume, a fluid temperature, a pressure or infusion time. In one example, a machine delivers a quantity of liquid food or beverage based on the fluid volume value that has been selected by the user. This type of machine is known as “Flow Stop” or “Semi Flow Stop” machine, or “automatic” or “semi-automatic” machine.
In some machines, the selection system is a part of a Human Machine Interface (HMI) that is quite sophisticated, such as a touchscreen (or “tactile control panel”). These machines may be expensive.
In other simpler and less expensive machines, the selection device comprises a panel comprising a set of marks, each mark representing a predetermined parameter value, for example a fluid volume parameter value; and a mobile selection element which is movable in relation to the set of marks for selecting a parameter value by positioning it in visual association with a mark. Such simpler selectors have been described in the prior art, for instance in the Applicant's International Patent application WO 2014 121520 A1.
Thus, a user of the machine positions the mobile selection element in visual association with a mark (for example over a mark or close to a mark) in order to select the parameter value associated with this mark.
The selection made by the user may sometimes be difficult to see.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a selection device which resolves at least some of the above difficulties making it possible to improve the viewing of a selection of a parameter without significantly raising the price of the selection device.